In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives ... See full summary »

A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.

Storyline

While hunting in the forest, Lord Asano of Ako and his samurai find a young half-breed and take him with them to live in the castle. Several years later, Lord Asano holds a tournament to welcome the Shogun to Ako. The night after the tournament, Lord Asano is bewitched into hurting Lord Kira of Nagato, and is punished into committing seppuku by the Shogun. Realizing that it was a Lord Kira's evil plot, the samurais and the half-breed sets out for revenge against the Shogun's order. Written by
Immanuel A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Due to studio interference, the film saw several script changes during filming, and a radical re-edit during post-production. The part of Yorick van Wageningen, who originally had a significant supporting role as Kapitan, was cut back to a silent cameo due to these decisions. See more »

Goofs

When Oishi and Kai are escaping the Dutch Island. Right after the battle Oishi's sword vanishes and only reappears in his hand after he and Kai fall from the higher pier to the lower one. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator:
Ancient feudal Japan, a land shrouded in mystery, forbidden to foreigners. A group of magical islands home to witches and demons. A nation of rival provinces whose lords were ruled by a shogin whose will is absolute. Peace in the realm is kept by the samurai, master swordsmen tasked with protecting their lord and their province at all costs. Should a samurai ever lose of fail his master, he suffers the greatest shame in all Japanese society. He becomes a ronin. And yet, to know ...
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Crazy Credits

The Universal spinning Earth begins normally, but after the camera backs away to show the full globe and logo it then slowly zooms back in with the Earth still spinning to Japan and the movies title is drawn over the Pacific Ocean. Clouds then obscure everything then clear as the view zooms in to Japan and the narration begins. See more »

User Reviews

47 Ronin is a highly fictionalized take on the story of the 47 ronin who took revenge on a court official who had the 47's leader commit seppuku. In the film, Keanu Reeves portrays Kai, a half-British Half-Japanese outcast who is called upon by Oishi, the leader of the 47. The 47 seek revenge on Lord Kira, who also has an evil witch (Rinko Kikuchi) serving under him, who killed their master.

The movie itself looks absolutely phenomenal, with amazing visual effects, an emotional and gripping musical score, and strong performances from Keanu and Hiroyuki Sanada, who portrays Oishi. The major problem that i saw with the movie was that, it was over way too fast. They left out important character development for the witch and a few other characters, which really could have added more emotional flame to the film. Plus, the movie overall could have easily been twenty, thirty minutes longer. If it were, i would say it can rank alongside 13 Assassins and The Last Samurai. The script was well-written in terms of dialogue (some cheesy lines), but the overall script was devoid of real depth and thought. Then, Carl Erik Rinsch's directing was actually pretty good, but had a few too many cut-aways.

47 Ronin is an extremely action-packed samurai/fantasy epic that is something you don't want to miss on the big-screen (for a cheap price). Though, if you want to see something award-worthy in terms of writing and directing, hope for a Director's/Extended cut on disc, for you won't find it here. But great performances, visual effects and emotion really help make this movie stand out, even with The Desolation of Smaug as competition.

144 of 242 people found this review helpful.
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